The Indiepinion

Over the weekend i have been thinking about my lecture idea on and off. Something didn’t feel right. Passion is a great thing to have, and there’s a lot to talk about – but what do i really want to get across? What is the point i would be making holding a lecture about passion? What would i be focusing on? Would my message simply be “Show your passion!” or something like that? I couldn’t grasp it and was feeling a bit down because even though i was still passionate to do the talk i felt things were slipping through my fingers and i was getting nowhere.

Thankfully, i have a girlfriend. At sunday night we were having sex talking … no, really, and actually – i was talking to her about all the things i would like to talk about – passionately of course. But it wasn’t until the monday morning bathroom routine that what i said the day before became a twist in my search for a lecture topic. I said that passion is just an aspect of a bigger, more far-reaching topic: sex … motivation! Of course!

So, i am on a quest to find out: what motivates us? What motivates us Game Developers specifically? In how far is our motivation for our job special or just different than the motivation of, say, a street worker, a bank teller, an athlete or a radio moderator?

And obviously, talking about motivation i’ll want to peek into the things that turn us off, like censored no clear vision, annoying coworkers, abrasive managers, bad reviews, having to cut features, working long hours, and what not. So generally, the things that turn you from a passionate lover game developer into this person:

If only there were a cure-all for this disease … i wonder …

Funny how motivationals seem to have the answer for every problem imaginable.

But no, really … i am looking for specific answers (or questions) regarding motivation in Game Development. What motivates us and what has the potential to turn us into brainless 9-5 zombies slowly pacing through the day pondering about the time when it was still fun. What is it that drives us, and what drives us mad. And do these two states always take turns? Give me your opinion!
(I’m asking you because i know my views on this just too damn well …)

Obviously, if i’m going to take this to the GDC Europe, it won’t be a lecture but a roundtable discussion. I can imagine that it would be really fun to put out all those (de)motivational issues and share them with peers, later categorizing them and trying to find common grounds and patterns – if there are any. Then we should end by talking about what each of us can do to improve ourselves, others around us and our companies to become places where each of us will be highly motivated instead of surfing the Internet for Game Development articles boobs all day long!